Dare To Have A Ball
by Caz251
Summary: Luna is given a dare that will allow her to attend the Yule Ball even though she is only a third year.


AN: Written for **The Lyric/Quote Drabble or Oneshot Challenge!**

**Your Quotes:**

#25: " The world is full of kings and queens, who blind your eyes and steal your dreams, it's heaven and hell." - _Heaven & Hell by Black Sabbath_

#39: "Take just one last dare, pretend you don't care 'til Twilight falls. Wait, there's someone else here, and I can't stop my tears, I've never been so scared." - _Lovers End by The Birthday Massacre_

**Your Characters:**

Male #10: Cedric Diggory

Female #26: Luna Lovegood

AND

**The Wand Wood Challenge/Competition ** Prompt: Ebony - **Write about Luna Lovegood. **

Luna looked around the Great Hall from the corner that she had taken shelter in. The Headmaster in his infinite wisdom had decided that to promote cooperation between the houses and the visiting schools they should have a mixer evening so that the students could get to know each other. He had also made it mandatory to attend, something that had annoyed Luna to no end, she didn't want to spend time with the people that bullied her.

She had looked for a refuge as soon as dinner had ended and the house tables had vanished. Her roommates had rushed off to surround Cho Chang who was holding court at one of the circular tables that had appeared. She knew that they wouldn't be talking about anything good, and that she would probably be the one to suffer from it.

"The world is full of Kings and Queens." A voice spoke up next to her.

She turned to find Cedric Diggory standing next to her looking over at Cho. Luna just snorted, "Yeah, who blind your eyes and steal your dreams, it's heaven and hell."

Cedric chuckled, catching her dig at his girlfriend, "She's not that bad." He defended.

"To you maybe." Luna spoke in her dreamy tone of voice, "But when she'd with them…" she trailed off.

"Come on." Cedric said as he tried to pull her out of her corner. "Come and join everyone, let them see who you are Moon Princess. Show them who will soon be queen. I dare you."

"Dares have never worked out well for me, that's how most of the bullying started, besides what's in it for me?" Luna asked unleashing her inner Slytherin.

"If you do it I'll take you as my date to the ball instead of Cho," Cedric proposed, "but if you don't I want you to be nice to her for a whole month."

Luna looked at him consideringly, but didn't respond. Her eyes had filled up a bit with tears at the idea of exposing herself to ridicule from such a large group.

"Take just one last dare, pretend you don't care 'til Twilight falls." Cedric coaxed.

"Wait, there's someone else here, and I can't stop my tears," Luna whispered as she looked at her bullies scattered throughout the hall, "I've never been so scared."

Cedric looked at the little blonde Ravenclaw and began to try and soothe her tears. She was four years younger than him but he felt as though she was some kind of kindred spirit, but her rays were dimmed. He knew that she was a child of the moon, but her spirit seemed to be waning. He gave her his handkerchief to dry her eyes before casting a freshening charm on her face for her.

Once she was composed once more he bowed to her, offering her his arm, "Come join the festivities milady."

Luna was giggling as they left the corner and Cedric took note of the glares thrown in their direction by the Ravenclaws. The glare his girlfriend was giving him almost as lethal as a basilisks.

Negative attention wasn't the only attention that they got when they left the corner though. Ginny Weasley immediately joined them, greeting Cedric before pulling Luna into conversation. They were also joined by a few more Gryffindors and a small contingent of his Hufflepuff friends. They then joined the group of Ravenclaws a small smirk on Cedric's face as he sat down. He looked at Luna before speaking, "I don't know if you know everyone, but everyone this is Luna Lovegood, one of my oldest friends. We live near each other so we have known each other for years."

Luna watched as Cho blanched, but the knowledge that she was friends with her boyfriend didn't put her off as she was still glaring at her. Luna just glared back, knowing that no-one would dare back Cho up around Cedric when he had just declared that Luna was one of his friends. She wondered what Cho's next move would be and she found herself at ease, knowing that Cedric would protect her. Things were bound to get out of hand later though once back in the common room, especially when Cho was aware that Cedric intended to take Luna to the ball in her place.

Luna wasn't worried though, she knew that she was more intelligent than Cho, despite being three years younger, and more magically able, even if the elder woman was indeed more beautiful. It wasn't as if Cho even held a candle to Fleur Delacour, beauty was subjective, it was all in the eye of the beholder. Luna wished she could be there when Cho found out that she wouldn't be attending the ball with Cedric, but knew that the Hufflepuff would tell her privately.

"Cedric," Cho's whiny voice hit Luna's ears, "I was wondering if you would like to go the ball with me." The girl must have thought that she would ask him as he obviously hadn't asked her yet and she didn't want anyone else to sink their claws into her boyfriend.

"I'm sorry, Cho, I can't. I have already asked Luna to accompany me and she has agreed." Cedric replied.

Luna ignored all the looks from the Ravenclaws, focusing instead on telling Ginny about the Nargles that were affecting the girls. She smiled inside though as she heard Cho whining about how she was Cedric's girlfriend and should be on his arm. She took real pleasure in the Hufflepuff teen telling her bully that he was taking a friend to the ball as he didn't have the time for a girlfriend at the moment due to the Triwizard Tournament and his upcoming NEWTs.

"I think I should content myself with friends at the moment, rather than searching for something more. I hope we can remain friends." Cedric stated calmly to Cho, the other girl nodded once, glared at Luna, then she ran out of the hall followed by a few of her friends.

Cedric then looked to Luna were she was pretending to be engrossed in conversation, cheekily commenting to her, "Nothing to be scared of."


End file.
